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Veronica Mars: A Trip to the Dentist

Veronica: "This is so not an 'I told you so,' but do you see why I kind of keep things to myself?"

This was a fascinating episode. We watched Veronica going from one clue and one witness to the next, and the next, and the next, until she finally figured it out. Why hasn't Veronica taken the time to seriously investigate her own rape before now? Was she afraid of what she would find out? The whole weird thing with Logan must have just pushed her over the edge.

Veronica spent the second half of this episode in little girl pigtails. It made her seem even younger, and she was very vulnerable and emotional. Veronica is such a strong young woman that when she breaks down and cries, it has impact: it's shocking as well as moving. Very strong scene with Duncan. Duncan obviously still loves Veronica, even though he believes she is his sister. So much for his relationship with Meg.

It was great that so many of the witnesses were characters introduced in earlier episodes: Meg, Dick, Sean, the Beaver, Luke from "You Think You Know Someone," Casey from "Drinking the Kool-Aid," Carrie Bishop from "Mars vs. Mars." Casey and Beaver came out looking like gents. Dick, Sean, and Madison are clearly evil and must be stopped.

Logan appeared to be guilty, then innocent, then guilty again. (Character whiplash.) He was so wonderful throughout, especially during the party scene when he told his friends to accept Veronica, or else. He tried so hard to fix things with her, too. "What can I do to make it better?" "Veronica, all I care about is you." "I can't take that I hurt you when all I want to do is protect you." Either he's been lying constantly throughout the series, or there simply has to be another explanation for the camera above the bed in the pool house. I'm going with option two.

Lianne is home. Now what?

Bits and pieces:

— The party at Logan's house was hilarious and wildly awkward, like deja vu all over again. A second stressful party for Veronica on top of investigating another. What a time for Aaron to try for father of the year.

— Keith sent Veronica to her room. That actually shocked me. He usually treats her like another adult, not a disobedient child.

— The Clarence-bug-mom-blackmail thing has made things uncomfortable between Veronica and Wallace. At least she finally confided in him.

— There was a strong emphasis on condoms. Did drugged out Veronica and drugged out Duncan have safe sex?

— Lilly hides things in vents? Shouldn't Veronica be looking in vents at the Kane house, asap?

— Aaron doesn't know that Logan is allergic to shellfish, much less when his birthday is. What a prince. Logan is seventeen, and will be eighteen in nine months.

— We learned that Logan left the party early with an easy girl named Cindy.

— Keith is so not the type of guy to go to Vegas and order a hooker. I never for a moment thought he was really doing it. So Cheyenne the hooker was with Abel at the time of the murder, huh?

— Duncan was in Havana. Coincidentally, there was a poster that said 'Cuba' in Veronica's room.

Quotes:

Logan: "You do not want to start with me today, Paco."
Weevil: "Are you sure? It was in my day planner under 'goals'."

Veronica: "There were about a hundred people at Shelly's party. Ninety-eight of them would walk over my corpse for free gum."

Veronica: "You wrote 'slut' on my car last year at Shelly's party. Why?"
Madison: "Because 'whore' had too many letters."

Veronica: "Apparently, that package you've been waiting for is in Vegas. Is it a white Bengal tiger?"

Keith: "Maybe you want to stay with a friend or something."
Veronica: "And miss an opportunity to have the apartment to myself so that I can raid the liquor cabinet and watch Skinemax? No, wait. I'm a girl. I'm going to do my homework, secure all the locks, brush, floss, and curl into bed with an overly protective pit bull."

Aaron: "Does it matter that I'm trying? I mean, does that count for anything at all?"
Logan: "Yeah. You're accumulating points. You've almost won the wet vac."

Veronica: "But it was consensual, right? Then what about that is so wrong?"
Duncan: "Because you're my sister! And I knew it!"

Excellent. Four out of four stars,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

4 comments:

  1. It was very good and Kirsten Bell once again was very good. She just hits the right notes.

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  2. okay earlier i liked veronica with duncan... now i only want her to be with Logan.. they are both so damaged but so vulnerable... i LOVE them together and i really think he does love her.

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  3. This is such a fantastic episode. From the teaser to the powerful revelation scene to the mini-cliffhanger, A Trip to the Dentist is as great as TV can get.

    It's so tragic that Veronica spent over a year imagining the worst (raped? raped multiple times?), only to find out she had been "consensually" with her former boyfriend.

    One can still argue Veronica was indeed raped, if not by Duncan, indirectly by Logan, Madison and whoever drugged Madison's drink. But I think the point the writers were trying to make is that sometimes life pulls a real cruel joke at you. Poor, poor Veronica. And poor Duncan at that.

    I loved the Logan and Veronica scenes. As inspirejenny said, what makes these two a powerful couple is the fact that they are both so damaged. They certainly understand each other. “I can’t take that I hurt you when all I want to do is protect you.” Oh, Logan. Such a manly way to say “I love you”.

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  4. This episode so wrecked me, I had to watch it again. The scene where Duncan tells Veronica he is her brother made me sob. I, personally, think she got over it a bit too quickly, but that only led to the scene with Logan. Just when I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, he could be a good guy. Even the second time through, I found myself not wanting that camera to be there.

    Just when I knew for sure that I couldn't take any more, there's Mom. Of course she is, because Veronica just gave her dad the nod to continue dating.

    Whew. I need a cookie and a warm blanket.

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